We Are Legends: Part Two: Survival
by Colorful Crayola
Summary: It's been a little less than a year since Neville found Alexis in that Walgreens. Now New York is completely devoid of all human life besides the Infected, him, Alexis, Samantha, and whatever wildlife happens to be roaming around.
1. Chapter 1

**Part Two: SURVIVAL**

**Chapter One.  
**

* * *

It was quiet out. There were a few birds here and there, perched on the small trees and abandoned buildings. Every now and again another animal could be heard making a call, but in this huge city there were no humans.

The buildings were all run-down from years of neglect and they had run into disrepair. Plants were pushing their way up from the underused pavement and parts of the city had been flooded. Vines had grown up around the buildings and a few cars.

For such a huge city, New York City was completely devoid of human life. It had been for nearly two years.

Suddenly, the silence was cut through by the roar of an engine. A red sports car appeared, accelerating dangerously down the center of the broken road. The driver, one Dr. Robert Neville, turned sharply around a corner. In the seat next to him was his three-year-old German Shepherd, Samantha.

He had been out in this ghost town for several hours, hunting and scavenging and trying to find other survivors. It had been years since he had met the last survivor, and they were still together. A girl named Alexis Banes.

But she wasn't out with him. She never went out during the day. She had been bitten during the first outbreak by an Infected and had, in turn, also been infected with KV-Virus.

However, she was neither immune to the virus, nor did it kill her like it killed so many. There was a third option for those who contracted the virus, though, and that was to change into vicious, inhuman creatures that lived off flesh and bone.

That hadn't happened to Alexis, either.

She had been turned into something different. She was, in fact, an Infected, but she had somehow managed to retain her humanity. She did not crave the flesh of living creatures like the Infected, but she needed meat more than a normal human and she had an extreme allergic reaction to sunlight.

So she never went out during the day. But she went out at night and did all the errands Robert Neville asked of her. She was never bothered by the Infected, because for some reason they feared her.

That was a mystery even Dr. Robert Neville could not figure out.

Samantha stared at Robert with a pleading look and he glanced at her, then turned to his door and pressed the window button. Samantha's window rolled down and she stuck her head outside.

Suddenly, a huge flock of birds took flight as the red Mustang came within reach. They chirruped fearfully and scattered. Samantha and Robert both watched them fly off into the sky.

Robert swerved up onto the sidewalk as a street packed with cars came into view. He drove under a walkway covered in plastic tarp, then reappeared on the other side and swerved back onto the street.

Suddenly, Samantha became attentive. Her ears rotated forward and she leaned toward the windshield, fidgeting slightly.

Robert glanced at his dog and slowed down a little bit to try and see what the German Shepherd was seeing. "Whatchu see, whatchu see?" he whispered.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a herd of deer leaped into the road in front of his car. He turned the steering wheel sharply to one side and caused the car to spiral out of control. It stopped and Robert forced the car into reverse, backed up, then shifted back into drive and gave chase.

Samantha gave a bark of excitement as Robert followed the deer. The herd darted around him and changed directions, but he managed to chase a good chunk of the herd toward the main streets.

His window rolled down with the flick of the switch and Robert stuck the tip of his M4 rifle out the window and took aim. He was driving parallel to the deer herd now and had a good chance of shooting at least one of them.

Abruptly, the deer leaped onto the sidewalks and disappeared into the subway tunnels.

"Damn," Robert cursed and gunned the engine, pulling his rifle back into the car. He would just have to try to make it to the other side of that tunnel before the deer. Maybe then he could just run one of them over. Sure would save him the ammunition.

The deer were already emerging from the tunnel when he reached the entrance. His new Ford Shelby Mustang just wasn't fast enough. Or maybe the deer were just as fast as his car.

He turned sharply and Samantha nearly fell into the dash board, but she regained her balance in time. The car nearly missed running down the last deer to emerge.

That movement had now cut off more deer from the rest of the herd.

However, he had to stop seconds later when a police barricade came into view. He slammed on his breaks and the car swerved slightly, turning so that it was parallel to the barricades. The deer leaped agilely between the cars, disappearing from sight.

Whimpering, Samantha leaned forward then started to bark. Robert held out a hand and started to rub her chest, making shushing noises. She quieted, but continued to whine.

Robert looked around, then got out of the car. Samantha followed him out and he picked up his M4 and started to hunt the deer on foot. He tracked them, and with Sam's help managed to find one lone deer.

He eventually followed it into an open field. Well, it had been a parking lot but was now overgrown with two-foot long grasses. He and Samantha pushed through, keeping their heads low so as not to alert the deer of their presence.

Suddenly, Robert put his hand out in front of Samantha and she obediently stopped walking. Robert lifted the sniper scope to his eye and took aim at the deer, but before he could get off a shot it walked behind a set of red bleachers sitting in the middle of Time Square.

Cursing quietly to himself, Robert lowered the gun started to walk around the other side of the overpass to head the deer off. The sun had started to set and the skies were turning a strange orange color.

When they reached the overpass, Robert crept out from around the stands and behind another car. He could hear the hoof falls against the concrete walkway.

He ducked down and saw from the windows that the deer had walked out from under the overpass. It was completely unaware of the man's presence.

Slowly, Robert started to stand. The deer was grazing on a small patch of grass in the middle of the large parking lot. It was completely open to attack, and his heart started to pump as he took aim at his quarry.

There was loud snarl and a lioness leapt out of nowhere, pouncing on her unsuspecting prey. The buck squealed loudly as he and the lioness wrestled on the ground, but he soon succumbed to death.

Samantha, upon hearing the vicious cat, ran to her master's side, barking loudly as if to ward off the lion. Robert stepped away from the car he had been hiding behind and pointed the gun at the lioness, contemplating shooting her as well.

Little growls sounded off seconds later and two lion cubs appeared from behind another decrepit car. A majestic male lion was padding along behind them, giving Robert a wary look.

For a few more seconds Robert thought about shooting them all down, but then his watch started to beep.

He lowered his gun, glowering at the lion family, but kept it aimed and ready to fire in case the little pride felt that the deer would not be enough food. He lifted his arm to look at one of the watches he wore. One for each wrist.

"Let's go Sam," he said, turning off his watch alarm. The dog whimpered, but followed orders and trotted after Robert as he headed back for his car. "C'mon."

They would just have to go without meat for a little longer. Until Alexis could hunt down one of those deer, at least. She hadn't had much luck in that department either, though. The deer were getting more crafty and had learned that traveling at night was not a good idea.

He had long since become numb to the biohazard signs that adorned the plastic draping several buildings on his way home. They had just become part of the scenery after that first year.

With no one else on the roads, no cops to pull him over, and red lights that held no authority—or electricity—any more, Robert reached his house in little under twenty minutes

That was even after stopping to switch out cars. He parked his Shelby halfway to his house in the dealership where he found the car, and drove his Ford Explorer. All of his equipment was in that SUV. He only used the Mustang when he went out hunting. It still had all of the price stickers in the windshield.

When he got home, Robert got into the back of his car and pulled out a bottle of vinegar. He walked backwards up his stoop, splashing the foul-smelling liquid on the steps and landing. He glanced around, then opened his front door to let Samantha inside.

For a few seconds he glanced around the neighborhood. There were a few birds chirping, but he knew they would all quiet before the night fell. There was only ever one creature out at night.

He squirted some more vinegar on the stairs, stepped inside the house and splashed some where he'd been standing then closed the door behind him.

Robert moved about quietly, putting away all of his scavenged items and equipment. He put some old news tapes on in the dining room and start to cook some dinner. There was no meat, so the entrée was mashed potatoes. There was an array of vegetables he had grown himself, and he made two plates, one for him and one for Samantha.

Samantha jumped up and put her front paws on the counter, smelling the food. Robert had taken a jar of spaghetti sauce from a cupboard full of jars of the same brand and other jarred foods.

"There you go, just the way you like it. Disgusting," he said, setting the jar down. His counters were stuffed full of food stuffs, so there wasn't much room.

"Excuse me, excuse me," he said, taking off the apron he had been wearing and leaning over his dog to hang it up.

He picked up the two plates and walked around a group of Honda generators, the source of his house's power, then got in the fridge to grab something to drink. He set the sauce-slathered plate on the floor text to the table and his own plate next to his small bottle of apple juice.

They watched the news while they ate. It was something about snow reaching twenty inches, but Robert had seen the broadcast before. On several occasions, actually. There was nothing else to watch with no one running the stations.

"Uh-uh. Nope, nope, nope. Eat your vegetables," he said, glancing down at Samantha. "Don't just push 'em around. I'm not playing. Eat your vegetables."

Samantha ignored him and pawed at her plate, moving the different veggies away from her potatoes. They were buttered down and had marinara sauce all over them, so she didn't think of them as a veggie.

He shook his head and took a bite from his own plate. "Alright. You're gonna eat your vegetables. We'll stay down here all night," he threatened.

She didn't heed his warning, though. Robert sighed and cleaned up the dishes when he was finished eating and turned off the television, leading Samantha up the stairs into the bathroom. "Alright. You're taking a bath, then," he said, picking his dog up and putting her in the bathtub. "Sit. Stay."

Whining, Samantha did as she was told. Robert turned on the shower head hose and a generator kicked into life. He sprayed down her coat and turned the water off again while he shampooed her. He lathered the soap up good, getting her entire coat, and she quietly whimpered.

"Whatchu whining for?" Robert demanded, tilting Samantha's head up. You should've eaten your vegetables!"

She whimpered again and Robert gently took her muzzle in her hand. "Alright look, I'll make you a deal. You'll eat twice as many vegetables tomorrow, alright? Deal?" he asked, turning Sam's head when she looked away from him. "Deal?"

Samantha whimpered again and Robert turned around to click the iPod sitting behind him. Bob Marley's _Three Little Birds_ started to play.

Robert turned back to Samantha and started to clean her again. "Feels good, don't it?" he murmured as he scratched the top of her head. She looked up at him with an expression that said "Why me?"

Smiling, Robert started to mumble along with the words to the song. He picked up the shower head hose and started to rinse Samantha's coat. She shook herself and droplets of soap and water went everywhere. "Ah! Sam!"

The alarm on Robert's watch started to go off.

He voice droned off and his smile faded to a blank expression as he stared at something very far. Samantha started to whimper and move restlessly about in the tub. She could sense something wrong and started to bark at Robert to snap him out of his trance.

But Robert couldn't hear anything. He had gone off to a different time. The sounds around him dimmed while he spaced out and he sat like that for several more seconds. He finally started to come back to reality.

Samantha was still barking at him and growling every now and again until Robert shushed her. He finished rinsing her off then turned off the water and got to his feet.

Slowly he walked over to the window, turning the alarm on his watch off. He took hold of the metal shudders on either side of the glass and took a second to look outside, then he slammed them shut and locked the shutters tight.

He traveled through the entire house, going to each window to lock them down. He paused for a few seconds at a closed bedroom door and listened for any noises, but the only sound was that of heavy breathing. Robert swallowed then continued to lock down his house, including the front door.

After a few minutes he had everything closed up. He then went about turning off his generators. The less sound coming from the house, the better.

Then the house fell into darkness.

* * *

**Well looky here. I got the first chapter of part one up! This will no longer be from the point of view of Alexis, but rather from an outside source. . . AKA, third person. XD Don't worry, Alexis is still here but I figured you might as well see things from Neville's point of view, as well. Alexis will show up, you just won't see as much of her. Why? Because we already got to see enough of what Alexis' life was like. Now we need to see what Neville's like is life and if it's changed at all with Alexis there. Unlike part one, I don't have this part finished. I've got like eight chapters done, and I don't know how many more there will be. I'll try to keep updating, promise.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two: SURVIVAL**

**Chapter Two.  
**

* * *

Robert headed up the stairs, his M4 in hand. He was met halfway up by Alexis. Her hair was a mess and she still looked like she could sleep for several more hours.

"Hey, Lex. Just getting ready to go to sleep," he greeted her with a wary smile, pausing on the steps to talk to her.

She just looked up at him and smoothed her hair out a little bit. "'Ello. . . ," she muttered, putting a hand up to her mouth and stifling a wide yawn. Her yawn turned into a quiet growl. "You mean going into the bathroom to hide in the tub."

He shot her a glare and she just gave him an apathetic gaze. He shook his head and waved his gun down stairs. "I don't want to move around. I move to my bed eventually," he snapped.

Alexis rolled her eyes and started to walk passed him. "I know," she said, stifling another yawn. "Just given you a hard time. What's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you can find."

"Just like always. Have fun in the tub. I hope it's at least dry."

He waved his hand. "How long has it been since you've had fresh meat?" he asked, making sure there were at least five steps between him and the half-Infected.

She turned and narrowed her eyes. "You couldn't get a deer?" she assumed. "Or even a pigeon?"

"Now, I'm only one man and a dog," Robert replied. "You can find something, right? If worst comes to worst I'll just give you one of those rats I have downstairs again."

Alexis shuddered. "That thing was nasty. Sure, it was easy to kill, but it was all tough and stringy. . . ," she said, more to herself than to Robert.

"Beggars can't be choosers."

She rolled her eyes again and continued back downstairs. "If I don't eat some meat soon there will be no living with me."

"Don't I know it. I'll go fishing sometime if you can't find anything."

"Fish ain't meat. . . ," she muttered quietly.

They parted, Alexis going to the downstairs bathroom to run a brush through her hair and take care of other things. She didn't have to spend time to get pretty since she was going out at night and there would be no humans to deal with.

Robert went upstairs. He paused at the door where he had given Samantha a bath and the German Shepherd started to get back into the tub, but Robert called to her and they went instead up into his room.

The screeching started up several minutes later. Sam started to whine quietly, and no matter how much Robert assured her, she was restlessly walking around the room until finally Robert lead her back into the bathroom so they could lay in the tub. She quieted then.

"You are such a strange dog," he muttered quietly, hugging his precious M4 to his chest.

Suddenly, a vicious and angry snarl ripped through the other screeches, silencing them for several minutes before they started up again. However, they sounded farther away and a lot more cautious.

Robert shook his head but said nothing. He knew who had made that sound. It would have made him smile if he weren't so freaked out.

When the screeches had faded into the far distance, Robert slowly pulled himself up and out of the bathtub. Samantha leaped out of the tub and carefully picked her way back up the stairs to Robert's room and jumped onto the bed.

"Get some sleep," Robert said, changing into more comfortable clothes and crawling into the king-sized bed.

It took a few hours, but he did eventually get to sleep. He was plagued, however, by the memories of his past. . .

It was dark out. Night time. A row of black vehicles rode up the side of a nearly-abandoned neighborhood street. Out of the middle SUV came Robert Neville. His family walked out of the house, his wife and a little girl with a puppy.

"Robert? Robert what's going on? I keep calling but I all get is this recording!" his wife declared, scurrying toward her husband, her daughter in her arms and a puppy in her daughter's arms.

He ignored her initial question and lead her to the car he had jumped out of. A man in a military uniform climbed out of the other car walked over to Robert's. "We've got thirty minutes, Colonel."

Robert nodded. "Get in the car," he said, helping his wife into the front seat and strapping his daughter into the seat behind his wife's.

Once settled in, he started to follow the other military officer. Robert glanced at his wife. "Did you get all the money?" he asked, slowing down a little bit as they came to a stop sign.

"Yeah!"

"How much?"

His wife thought for a minute. "Six hundred dollars," she replied, sounding a little bit harried.

"That's not enough," Robert muttered, shaking his head. "Once you get across the bridge, I want you to get to an ATM and get as much money as you possibly can. Then head over to your sister's house. I'll meet you there in two weeks."

"Robert you said 'you're" going, not "we're" going."

"I don't want to go to Aunt Sara's," the little girl muttered to herself while Robert was talking to his wife. "We only go there in the summer. It's Christmas."

"They're quarantining the island," he said at last, finally answering his wife's question. Lights whizzed by his mirror and both he and his wife, Zoe, ignored their daughter's complaining.

"What island? _This _island? Jesus, Robert! Did it jump?" his wife demanded in a whisper.

"You left my presents in the closet," the little girl continued, petting the puppy in her lap. Her voice filled the silence while Robert ignored his wife.

"Is it airborne?" she asked, more urgently.

He took a breath. "We think so," he said guarded.

Zoe leaned back in her chair and shook her head. That was not the best news she'd ever heard.

"He's making the announcement now," he said, leaning forward and fiddling with the radio dial for a few seconds.

"It's Christmas!" their daughter complained again.

"Hush, now, Marley," Robert said, glancing back at his little girl.

She looked down at the dog, then looked back up and put her hands together. "Look, Mom, a butterfly!"

"Marley that's enough!" Zoe demanded. Marley, looking dejected, quieted.

A male voice that claimed to be the President was issuing a formal command to quarantine New York City. After a few seconds, he turned it back off.

"Robert, come with us," Zoe said, staring pleadingly at her husband.

"I can't leave. We have a small window and if we find something in the next two weeks we should be able to reverse the spread," he said, not looking away from the windshield.

She continued to look at him. "What are you doing?"

Looking confused, Robert glanced at his wife. "What am I doing? This is Ground Zero. This is my site. I'm not going to let this happen."

"Let this happen? Robert this--!"

Robert had stopped for a light and his wife was interrupted when a sick and bleeding man slammed into the window. Zoe and Marley started to scream and Robert hit the gas, driving away from the sight.

Robert woke up, staring up at the ceiling. Samantha sniffed, then started to lick at his face. The alarm on his wrist watch went off and he looked at it, turning it off. "How'd you sleep?" he asked.

He got up to start his day by making some breakfast and opening all of the shutters. He turned around when the front door opened, but Alexis walked in with an oversized hooded sweatshirt. The hood was drawn close over her face to block the sunlight.

"Did you find anything to eat?" Robert asked, pulling open the windows by the door. His shoulder brushed Alexis' gently and she instantly recoiled from him, hissing.

"No, I didn't find anything, so don't come too close to me," she said, taking a breath.

Robert glanced at her and grimaced. "Alright, alright. I'll try to catch something today. Whether it be some fish or a deer. You'd prefer deer, though, right?" he asked.

Alexis nodded and stepped onto the stairs. "Yeah. Deer is better. Raw. If you do catch fish, it'll hold me off for a little bit."

"Alright. Where's the stuff you scavenged?"

"In my car. I was gonna bring the bag in, but I got up here in the house as quick as I could. My face was starting to burn."

Robert walked over to her. "Let me see."

She sighed and looked up. Robert gently took her chin in his hand and moved her head around, getting a good look. "Yeah. Looks like you've got some serious sunburn. Least you can't get cancer from it. Dr. Krippen did something right."

With a giggle, Alexis took another step up the stairs. "I'll be fine for the night. I'll just get some aloe and rub it in. It doesn't hurt that much."

"That's because your nerves die really easily."

"That makes me feel better," she muttered, rolling her eyes and sitting in the middle of the staircase. "Now what's for dinner?"

"I could make you some bacon?" Robert offered her. "That's the only meat stuff I have currently. I was just gonna eat some leftovers."

Alexis shrugged. "Just throw me the bacon. I don't need it cooked. Prefer it raw anyway." It was much better for her to eat raw meat. There was just something about it that sated her hunger more.

Robert chuckled and walked into the kitchen. He came out a few seconds later with a plate of bacon strips. It was just a few, as bacon was really hard to come by. He handed Alexis the plate of raw bacon and she immediately dove into it with a ravenous hunger.

Eyes wide, Robert walked quickly away. Samantha peeked around the corner and whimpered, then followed after her owner.

It was a full minute later that Alexis was done with the bacon strips. She sat there on the stairs, the only haven from the sunlight that flooded the downstairs, and waited.

"Alright! I've got some of my dinner from last night ready," Robert said, walking toward the stairs and swapping her empty plate with one filled with vegetables. "How do you feel now that you've had some meat?"

She nodded and swallowed a huge bite she had started to eat while Robert was talking. "Better. Though if you would have given me the whole thing I would be feeling a whole lot better," she said, giving him an accusatory look, stuffing more corn in her mouth.

He sighed and sat on the steps below her, eating his own breakfast. "I would have, but then what would have eaten a few weeks from now? I'm saving this bacon just for your little tantrums."

Sighing, Alexis nodded. "Yeah, yeah. . . I guess you're right. How many times has your rare bacon finds saved your delicious hide?"

He shot her a suspicious glare. "Are you being funny?"

"Apparently not," she muttered rolling her eyes and picking hungrily at her vegetables. "I hate these things. . . They don't taste good. . . I used to love corn. You know that?"

"You tell me every time I feed you," he chuckled.

"Oh yeah. Well, it still floors me. Anyway, I'm going to go finish this in my room. I'm starting to get a headache from this sunlight."

Robert nodded and got to his feet at the same time Alexis did. "Just bring your plate down when you wake up tonight," he said walking toward the kitchen to continue his meal. Alexis nodded and disappeared into the darkness of her room.

When he was done eating, he started to exercise. He had a room decked out with two treadmills and there was a pull-up bar attached to the top of the door. He started there first, then he and Samantha both ran on the treadmill for quite a while.

They had to stay in shape.

After his workout, Robert got into street clothes and headed back downstairs. Under the stairs sat a door to the basement. Samantha sat at the door and whimpered quietly, but Robert pushed her aside.

"Uh uh. You know better than that," he said, opening the door only big enough for him to get through. "I'll be right back."

Samantha whined, but she sat down and obediently waited for him to return.

He washed his hands thoroughly in a sink, a generator kicking up instantly, and then donned a lab coat. He walked over to an Apple computer and set up a wireless camera.

"September fifth 2009," he started, staring at the camera on top of his computer. "Switching to live feed."

Robert moved the camera to a pair of glasses he was wearing and walked over to a large fixture covered with a large tarp. He pulled the tarp to reveal a table stacked with small cages full of Infected Rats. As soon as the tarp was removed, the rats started to slam themselves against the cages and make unholy noises as they attempted to attack their captor.

However, there was a good majority of them that were dead. Robert shook his head and counted off the ones that were alive and then the ones that were dead, keeping track of what his attempt at an antivirus was doing.

He had just about lost hope until he caught sight of cage number seven. "Hang on. . . Number seven shows a change in aggressiveness. Partial pigmentation return. . . Partial reaction to light. We have a compound set for human testing. Hang in there, number seven," he announced as he tapped at the glass with one finger.

After he cleared everything up in the basement lab, he headed back upstairs. It was time to go out into the world again. He opened up armoire next to his front door and pulled on a jacket. Samantha stood next to him, waiting patiently to get her day started. He grabbed a bunch of assorted items, including an M4 rifle, some DVDs, and a set of keys out about 20.

With Sam in tow, Robert headed out to his Ford and climbed in the front seat, allowing his dog time to jump into the passenger's side. He threw on some music; Bob Marley's _Three Little Birds_, then pulled away from the curb and headed out.

The first stop on his agenda was a video store. The site of the mannequins standing at the front pulled on Robert's heart strings: he knew it probably wasn't healthy, but every time he saw them, he always jumped to think that maybe someone was out there. Renting videos. Instead of getting some supplies.

He parked the car in the middle of the street—no one was around to complain or even hit his car—and climbed out. He pulled out the keys and walked to the door, unlocking it.

"Oh, hey Fred! Marsha. What are you doing here so early?" he asked the dummies, turning to them as if he'd actually just saw them there. He paused to allow them time to "respond" and opened the door. Sam went running in first like she always did, and a few seconds later a bark was heard from inside the store, indicating that it was clear.

"See you guys inside. That's a nice sweater Fred! Don't set it down anywhere," he called as he walked into the video rental store. There was a man sitting at the check out desk, and there were a few other "customers" standing around. He'd stop and say good morning to them as he walked over to a shelf.

Taking out some DVDs from his pockets, he ran his fingers along the spine of the movies, then set his few DVDs back in their places. Glancing over his shoulder, he "noticed" a female standing by the adult video section. He grabbed another movie and started to read the back, glancing over at the woman, as if he was trying to come to a decision about something.

Should he go over and talk to her?

Inside, he knew he was a sad person. But he was lonely. He might have had Alexis to talk to every now and again, but he missed interacting with people on an hourly basis. Samantha and Alexis curved that craving slightly, but he needed more. . . He needed more friends to fill the void of the ones he had lost in the infection.

Making a choice, Robert walked away from the female mannequin and toward the desk. "Morning, Hank. Half way through the Gs," he announced, smiling at the male display dummy.

He fiddled with some stuff on the counters, then leaned toward Hank and glanced back at the mannequin again. "Hey, see that woman over there. . . ?"

Hank just sat there.

Robert shook his head. "Never mind. See you tomorrow." He put the DVDs back in his bag and headed out, locking the door behind him. Sam was already waiting back in the car like a good little dog. She tilted her head to the side and her tongue lolled from her mouth. She was always happy to see Robert.

* * *

**Well, here's the second chapter. I'm going to be getting a few more of these chapters up at a time because it's kinda slow. I mean, you've seen the movie. Not much happens for a little while. So, I figure I should get a bit up here at a time so it doesn't take so long haha.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Two: SURVIVAL **

**Chapter Three.  
**

* * *

Leaving the movie rental store, he head out toward a field. Stalk of corn lined part of the open field, and Robert began to pick the ripe ears, Samantha never close by. Samantha whined, and Robert looked down at her.

"What was I supposed say? 'Hey there. Wanna see some. . . Infected rats?"

Picking another ear of corn, he looked down at his dog, then shook his head. "Alright, alright. I'll say hello tomorrow."

Before driving off, Robert pulled out a map. He studied it for a few seconds, then circled a new block of houses. "Alright. Here we go," he muttered to his dog, who whimpered quietly as Robert started the car and drove it in the direction his map indicated.

It took only a few minutes, and once again Robert parked in the middle of the street. He pulled out his large bag, let Sam out of the car, then spread his map out on the hood of his car. He had a red pen in his hand, and he tapped part of the map with the lid on the pen. He looked around to make sure he was in the right spot, then folded up the map.

"C'mon, Sam."

He walked inside an apartment complex after sending Samantha in, then walked through the halls, kicking in doors and ransacking the abodes to find anything useful; DVDs, food, lights, anything.

Stopping at one house, he pulled his M16 up and aimed it at the door, then kicked the door in. Sam went running in and Robert stood in the doorway, gun aimed and ready to protect himself. He waited to hear Sam's bark, then lowered his weapon and let it rest against his side. Sam came bounding to him and he kneeled down to pet her.

"You did so good! Yes! Yes!" he complimented her, stroking her back and head. The German Shepherd's tail wagged fiercely at the praise, then she wandered into the main living area and jumped up on the couch, sniffing around.

Robert began to rummage around the house, picking up bottles and looking at water. Medicine bottles were looked at, CD's, the cupboards were rummaged through—which he found real spam in one of the kitchen cupboards, as well as some smoked salmon, with which Samantha seemed especially keen on, though Robert new the spam was going to go to Alexis. She needed it before she tried to eat him again.

Leaving the living room, Robert headed into the bedroom area and pushed open a door to find a king-sized bed with quarantine plastic draped over it. He peered inside, then started to walk out, but stopped and looked at a closed door with a note. It read "Do not open until x-mas." Taking a breath, Robert opened the door slowly and looked inside.

The room was set up with all kinds of baby stuff. Two cribs pointed toward twins, and the room was completely decked out. Swallowing hard, Robert slowly closed the door again, wishing he hadn't done so in the first place.

KV virus had destroyed many lives.

Leaving the apartments, Robert headed out toward the docks. He parked his car at the end of the dog, grabbed a laptop case and some other bags, then walked down the dock, where a table was set up. He sat at the chair and set up his equipment, then took a breath and began the hardest part of his daily routine.

Taking a breath, he leaned in toward the mike. Samantha looked up at him and tilted her head to the side, and he began to speak.

"My name is Robert Neville. I am a survivor living in New York City. I am broadcasting on all AM frequencies. I will be at the South Street Seaport everyday at mid-day, when the sun is highest in the sky. If you are out there. . . if anyone is out there. . . I can provide food, I can provide shelter, I can provide security. If there's anybody out there. . . anybody. . . please. You are not alone."

There he remained for an hour and a half, waiting to see if anyone would show up. Glancing around, all was quiet except the occasional sound his dog made on the pier. He threw the tennis ball for a while, then packed up.

After a short drive to a different pier, where a Carrier is waiting. He found his stash of golf balls and a few clubs, then climbed out on top of a Blackbird.

"Four!" he shouted as he hit a ball. It flew across the air and bounced into a parking lot, and Robert teed up again. "Watch this one for me," he said to Sam. The German Shepherd was laying next to him, out of range of being hit with a club, and she didn't seem at all interested in seeing where the ball went.

This time, the ball bounced through the parking lot and the sound of a window breaking echoed back to him. "I'm gettin good," he grunted, scratching his brow.

Slowly, Sam lifted her head from her paws and stared intently out into the streets, her ears perked forward. A whine issued from her throat and Robert looked to her.

"What is it?" He picked up his rifle and looked through the scope. He scanned the immediate area, then swung his rifle around when he spotted a deer disappearing behind a bus. "Let's go, Sam!" he called, picking up his jacket and leaving the golf items there on the plane.

They chased the deer through the city, flushing it out into the open. Robert climbed up onto a car and took aim, but the deer bounded behind a car. The road was completely congested with vehicles, making it harder for the deer to escape. Robert looked to Samantha, gave her a command, and the dog took off after the deer, moving faster than Robert ever could.

Reaching a dead end, the deer jumped around, looking for a place to escape, and it leapt inside a dark building. Samantha, directly behind the deer, shot right in after it.

Trailing a bit behind, Robert saw—not in time—his best friend run into the pitch-black building. "No! Sam, no! Stop!" he shouted at her, fear for his dog washing over him.

He stopped at the door and pointed his rifle inside, sweeping the dark area and whispering his dog's name. "Sam. . . Sam!" There was no answer, and Robert swallowed hard. If his house hadn't been so far away, he would have driven back and gotten Alexis, but there was no time. He had to go get his dog by himself.

Turning on a flashlight attached to his gun, Robert slowly made his way into the dark building. As he walked, he continued to stage-whisper Samantha's name. She never answered him, and sweat began to beat his face and neck. He was truly afraid now, and not just for his dog.

Suddenly, a sharp, inhuman screech sounded from in front of him and a sickening splatter echoed through the hall. Robert quickly placed his hand in front of the flashlight and pressed his back against the wall, attempting to keep his breathing under control. "I gotta go, Sam. . . I gotta go."

Waiting a few seconds, he pulled his hand away from the flashlight and looked out in front of him. Placing his hand back over the beam, he started to move forward, continuing to use small bursts of light to see where he was going.

Reaching some stairs, he completely removed his hand from in front of the flashlight and angled his gun down, spotting a puddle of blood at the bottom of the stairs. The trail led up the stairs, so he started to follow it. At the top of the stairs, the blood continued and a sense of foreboding gnawed at his stomach as he spotted a muzzle poking out from around the corner.

Swallowing hard, Robert assumed the worst. However, stepping forward, he saw that the muzzle was that of the deer that had run in. Relief flooded through Robert, and he went back to looking for his dog, walking down the hallway.

As he walked, he slowly began to notice millions of dollars littering the ground. He immediately thought of Alexis, who had always come home with wads of cash, claiming that she was going to live in the lap of luxury once the world was saved. Shaking his head, he continued on, looking at the money and wondering if he should pick it up and bring it back for Alexis, or if he should leave it there.

Coming to a safe, he peered inside. His flashlight illuminated a group of ten or so Infected huddled in a circle. Clenching his teeth shut, Robert quickly covered the flashlight and doubled over, attempting to stifle a scream and get his breathing under control at the same time. The Infected were sleeping, and Robert slowly began to walk backwards, trying his hardest not to make the money on the floor crinkle.

Once back at the top of the stairs, he stood up straight and turned his head toward the opposite direction, hearing a low whine from Samantha. He turned his flashlight toward that hall and quickly walked down that direction, whispering Samantha's name again.

Reaching a large room, he swept the area with his flashlight until he spotted Samantha hiding under a desk, crouched over and tail between her legs. He darted over to her and knelt down, motioning for her to follow him. She just whined and backed further under the desk, glancing at her master for brief seconds, but mainly looking forward, eyes wide and pupils dilated.

"What're you doing? We have to go, Sam! We have to go!"

Whimpering again, she was still looking forward. Realization slowly started to creep onto Robert's expression when the sound of a bone crunching caught his attention. He exhaled sharply, then slowly turned at the hips before swinging his rifle forward.

An Infected was yards away, eating the deer's body. As the light cascading over him, the Infected lifted his bloodied head up and roared angrily, spotting another potential meal.

Robert was on his feet instantly, firing off several shots at the Infected. It snarled and fell over mid-leap and both master and dog took off running. Spotting a small square of light, Robert pointed frantically at it. "Go, Sam! GO!" he yelled. Sam wasted no time and quickly ducked down in the light and down a staircase.

Up ahead there was a bigger square of light. Robert sprinted toward it, fueled by fear and adrenaline. Roars and snarls were now working up behind him, indicating that the other Infected had been woken.

As he reached the light, an Infected leapt up behind him and crashed into his back, propelling Robert through a blackened window two stories up. There was a mid-air tussle in which Robert grabbed the monster and pulled it under him to break his fall. Another Infected fell from the window as well, but grabbed the edge and pulled himself up.

Rolling off the Infected, the inhuman creature started to writhe on the ground, screeching in pain as the sunlight begins to burn his skin. The creature—like all of the Infected—had lost all of his hair and his skin seemed like it was translucent, all of the veins being visible.

Samantha ran up to Robert and started to bark at the Infected, as if protecting Robert. However, Robert threw up his arms and pushed Samantha back, away from the Infected. "Get back, get back, Sam!"

Getting to his feet, Robert watches the Infected die, then stares up at the darkened building. Taking a deep breath, he started to walk back to his car.

Opening the driver's door, Samantha jumped in and sat down, and then Robert closed the door. He went around and got some things from the back, then starts to draw some of his blood in a little vial.

Sticking her head out the open window, Samantha whimpered.

"I need you to stay in the car on this one," Robert said to her, wincing as his blood filled the glass vial. "Because I'm still immune. And you're not."

Pulling the needle out, he gently put it back in the back and put the top on the vial. Taking off his jacket, he pulled out a large bottle of vinegar and poured it over his leather jacket. Putting the jacket on, he lifted a hand and stroked his dog's head. Samantha whimpered quietly.

"If I'm not back by sunset. . . Just go," he said, patting her on the head before walking out toward the building.

* * *

**Alright. Last one for the night. I'll get more up later. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Part Two: SURVIVAL**

**Chapter Four**

* * *

Earlier that morning Robert had discovered that one of his lab rats had started to show signs of improvements. He now just needed a human subject. If he could even call those monsters human anymore. His original plan had been to tell Alexis that night to bring one home, but now he was at an actual hive.

It would be quicker to get one himself.

Taking some time, Robert set up a snare trap. The trigger was placed in the dark building, just inside the door the deer and Samantha had entered from. He took a big, black tarp and lied it out on the floor, then set the trigger on the tarp. Taking the vial of blood he'd gotten minutes before, he placed it on the tarp and then broke the glass with the butt of his rifle.

Jogging a few yards from the door, he settled himself on top of a station wagon and waited, rifle at the ready.

He didn't have to wait long. Shuffling came from the dark building, and then the click of the trap being activated. On the other side of the overhanging bridge, a truck fell to the floor. Robert glanced over his shoulder, and then a feminine screech sounded as the tarp—with an Infected inside—flew along a line and stopped a few inches away from Robert.

The female Infected inside lashed around and roared and snarled until Robert slammed the butt of his gun against the Infected's back. The creature went limp, but not before she got out a shrill distress call.

For a few seconds all was silent. Robert lowered his gun, and then a roar sounded from inside. Whipping around, Robert turned in time to see a male Infected hanging half outside the door, roaring at Robert. Surprised, Robert just stared at him, wide-eyed, as the Infected's head began to burn.

Snarling, the male darted back inside, leaving a very confused Robert standing on top of the car, the upside-down Infected swaying next to him.

Cutting down the Infected subject, he kept the tarp over her to keep the sunlight from burning her. He dragged her back to his car and threw her in the trunk after making sure to keep her bound. It wouldn't take long for him to drive home, and then he could sedate her more effectively.

Driving with one hand, he kept the other on Samantha's collar. She was leaning over, her head facing the back of the large SUV, and she whined and barked every now and again. "Sam, leave it," Robert would say to her.

Once home, he dragged the Infected into his house and down to his lab, being sure to make sure Samantha is locked out. He places her on a metal table with some tools next to it and applies some ankle, wrist, and stomach restraints to keep her on the table whenever she woke.

It took a few trials, but eventually Robert got the right amount of dosage for a sedative and began to go about the experimenting.

Putting on his cam glasses, Robert walked over to the Infected and stood over her. "Subject appears female, from eighteen to twenty five years old. Subject is heavily sedated with six times the normal amount," he noted monotonously. Picking up a small light, Robert pulled back one of the Infected's eyelids and flashed the light over her eyes. "Pupils are fully dilated and non-responsive to light. Shows extreme reaction to UV light." The large, fluorescent light was held to the Infected's skin and was making it burn.

Setting down the light, Robert picked up a needle and took a breath. "Subject's heart rate is 200 BPM and its temperature is 106 degrees. Tissue samples and physical tests confirm that the subject is, in fact, infected with the KV virus. Beginning human trials now."

Hesitating for a second, Robert carefully stuck the needle in the Infected woman's arm and injected her with the serum. With a hopeful look, he watched the monitor as the woman's heart rate started to decrease. Elated, he watched the monitor more intently. "196 BPM and decreasing. We may have something here."

He knew that he should have had Alexis down with him, but he hadn't wanted to wake her, knowing that sometimes she was cranky when she woke. He would just have to tell her about it when she woke, and give her some of that spam. That would make her happy.

Suddenly, the Infected sat as far up as her wrist restraints and the strap across her stomach would allow her. She screeched a horrible, shrill sound and then began to seize, lashing around on the table. Robert was surprised at first and backed up, but then his expression turned forlorn. After a drawn-out cry of pain from the Infected, she fell limp on the table and flat lined.

"Robert! Robert what the _hell _do you have down there?! You unlock this door! Robert! Robert! I _knew _something was going on when you came home! I can smell those things, you know! Robert! Robert are you alright? Robert say something please!" Alexis' voice carried from the top of the stairs and behind the wooden door. She wiggled the handle and pounded on the door, trying to get down into the lab to protect her friend.

Picking up a different syringe—filled with the original virus this time—Robert jammed the needle into the Infected's leg and injected the liquid. "I'm fine, Alexis. Stumbled into a hive today so I brought one home to be tested on. One of the rats got better."

Alexis pulled her hand off the door and let that sink in. A hopeful smile pulled at her lips, but it slowly faded again. That cry the Infected had made. . . That was a death call. "It didn't work, did it?" she called through the door, leaning her forehead on the wooden barrier.

Robert tossed the syringe into a tray and set both hands on the edge, leaning on the try. "Serum killed the subject. No cure yet," he growled, slamming the tray a bit in his frustration.

Sliding to the floor, Alexis leaned on the door and hung her head, her short hair falling over her face. She could hear that Robert had brought the Infected back to life, and at least that meant she wouldn't have to go out and fetch another one. She listened as Robert wheeled the female into the giant Plexiglas cage and saved his files, and she slowly got to her feet.

It was apparent once Robert was out of the lab that he was upset. He had come home early, and the sun was still pretty high. Alexis was wearing an oversized pull over with the hood up, trying to keep herself from burning. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. You need this cure more than I do. I promised I would cure you, and I'm not going to go back on that," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "The rest of the world needs it, those Infected need it, and I can't let a few failures get me down."

Nodding Alexis turned and started to go back to her bedroom. "Wait," Robert said. Alexis stopped and turned to look at him. "I found some spam. Thought you might like that. It'll be in the cupboard when you get ready to go out."

Smiling, Alexis nodded. "Alright. That sounds good. Oh I almost forgot. . . How did you accidentally stumble into a hive?"

Sighing, Robert recounted the day's events. Samantha was in the other room, lying on the couch and trying to relax. When Robert was done, Alexis shook her head and rubbed her forehead with her hand. "Wow. . . Well, I'm glad you and Sam got out of there alright." She yawned a wide yawn, then started up the stairs. "I'll see you in a couple hours."

Nodding, Robert followed Alexis up the stairs. Samantha trailed behind, but he needed to be on a different floor than Alexis. He walked into a room and set up the computer to make a video diary entry, and he sat in a wheeled chair, Samantha next to him.

"Day one thousand and one," he began. "We came in close contact with a hive today. Blood tests confirm that I remain immune to both the airborne and contact strains. Canines remain immune to airborne strain only." He turned to look at his dog and pet her. "The vaccine trials continue. I'm still unable to transfer my immunity to infected hosts. The Krippen Virus is. . . elegant."

His mind began to wander and he rotated in his chair a little bit. "Just fishing in the dark, son." He paused for a few more seconds, then remembered something he was going to say. "Oh. Behavioral note—an infected male exposed himself to sunlight today. Now it's possible decreased brain function or growing scarcity of food is causing them to. . . ignore their basic survival instincts. Social de-evolution appears complete. Typical human behavior is now entirely absent."

One floor up, Alexis was lying on the floor, the side of her head pressed against the carpet. She was listening to Robert in the darkness of her room, eyes closed. As he finished, she sighed and sat up, shaking her head. Getting to her feet, she walked over to the corner of her room.

For the past few months, Alexis hadn't been using her bed to sleep.

Shaking her head as she took a standing position, facing the corner, she sighed. "You're wrong, Robert. They have human behavior. You just can't see it like I can. I can't convince you. . . But I hope you don't have to learn like I had to.

* * *

**Sorry I keep taking so long. I just get lazy. But at least I post more than one chapter at a time. However, that won't last much longer.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Part Two: SURVIVAL**

**Chapter Five**

* * *

Three unmarked vehicles pulled up to a long dock and the military man opens the door to Robert Neville's car. "We're hoofing it from here, Colonel."

Robert and Zoe climb out of the car and Robert picks up Marley, while Zoe takes the puppy. "We've got five minutes. Plenty of time, Colonel," the man announced as an escort began.

All around them, people were trying to leave the island by helicopter and boat before the quarantine went into full effect. Military men had scanners and were letting people through or pushing people aside.

At the front of the line, there was a woman with a baby in her arms, crying tears of blood with her extremely blood-red eyes. "Please! Please I'm not infected! Please, please take my baby! Please take my baby!" she pleaded, the child in her arm crying. Robert ignored her and stepped up to the scanner, where the man there checked him and his daughter and let them bother through.

However, as Zoe stepped up to be scanned, the device announced that she wasn't clear and she started to get pushed away.

It took some yelling and some gun pointing, but eventually Robert pulled rank and ordered the man to scan her again. Zoe was rescanned, and this time she was cleared. Together, the family headed toward the end of the dock.

Marley looked over her father's shoulder at the woman with the child. She continued to plead with people to take her baby, that she wasn't infected, and Marley turned to her dad.

"Daddy why can't that lady come too?"

Glancing over his shoulder, Robert ignored his daughter's question and pulled her hood over her head, turning her away from the woman.

Zoe gave Marely the puppy and mother and daughter sit in the helicopter. Quickly, the family does a prayer, and Robert kisses his wife one last time and turns to his daughter. "Look, Daddy. A butterfly!" she said, making a butterfly with her hands.

"Yeah, a butterfly," he said, tears in his eyes.

Marely picked up the puppy and held her out to Robert. "Sam, you protect Daddy," she said, holding the dog out firmly.

"Honey, Daddy can't take—" he began to protest. However, the helicopter was getting ready to take off, so he quickly grabbed the dog and backed away from the landing pad, waving to his family. Sam licked at Robert's face, and he blew a kiss to his wife as the helicopter began to lift off.

Robert was woken from his memories when Sam began to bark at the door to his room. He sat up straight and looked around fretfully, but it was morning. The sun was high, but that didn't explain why his dog was barking.

"What's wrong, Sam?"

Whining, Sam scratched at the door and barked, and then Robert heard it.

"Robert! Robert help me!" Alexis' voice pleaded from the direction of the stairs. She sounded like she was in real trouble, and Robert threw his blankets off and headed out the door, keeping Sam locked inside the room.

Hurrying down the stairs, Robert stopped when he saw Alexis lying in the middle of the flight of stairs, holding her shoulder and bleeding from some wound. Instead of flowing freely, the blood seeped from the wound with a pudding-like consistency.

"What happened?" Robert demanded, kneeling next to the partly-infected girl.

"They attacked me! Robert I don't know what you did in that hive but they are pissed. I've never seen—I've never seen so many of them together at one time! Who did you take? You have to let me see that Infected! They've never attacked me like that before! I had to _run_, Robert. I had to _run _and _hide_," she declared, pulling herself to a seated position.

Her entire body was peppered with assorted bruises and cuts, but both knew that she would be perfectly fine when night came. She was a quick healer.

"Why do you need to see the Infected that I brought home?" Robert asked, helping Alexis to her feet.

She brushed off her sweatpants and took a breath, looking at him with a solemn expression. Her hazed eyes were glistening with a knowing glimmer, a sad expression that made it seem as if she were going to die from the sadness at any second. "Robert, one of them is missing. How many did you kill, and who did you bring home?"

Robert gave Alexis a long looked, then sighed. "I dunno. I killed like two or three. I brought home one. I don't know who she is, though. I suppose if it's that important I can let you see her."

Feminine pronouns. A sense of foreboding cascaded over Alexis as Robert led her down the stairs to his lab. Sam was left in the bedroom, whining and whimpering, but safe. Part of Alexis didn't want to go down there, and Robert was just confused, so he led her blithely to the glass cage in the back of the lab.

Alexis had been here before. There was nothing new down there. The lab rats hidden behind a sheet began to squeal once Alexis stepped down, and she and Robert looked over to the covered cages, and then motioned for her to go see the Infected he'd captured. She swallowed hard, then stepped forward and placed a hand on the glass, peering at the sedated woman.

"No!" she rasped, her voice failing. Alexis stumbled backwards, almost knocking over a table before Robert steadied her with a hand on her back.

"What is it? What's wrong?" He jogged over to the glass and looked inside, then turned back to his companion. "What's the matter? There's nothing wrong with her. She's just an Infected. You see those every night."

Alexis ran back over to the glass and gently pushed Robert out of the way, going through the process of opening up the glass. Robert reached out to grab her, but she hissed at him and he pulled back. "Alright!"

Once the glass barrier was unlocked, Alexis ran inside and lifted up the Infected's shoulder, looking it over, then moved to the other one and checked that shoulder blade, only to drop it and put a hand over her mouth, shaking her head.

Robert stood in the open doorway, looking irritated and concerned. "Alexis! Tell me what's going on!"

Rounding on him, a mixture of emotions played across her face. Anger, sadness, despair, rage. "You brought home his _mate_!" she screeched, earning several frightened squeals from the hidden rats. "Do you _know_ what you have _done_? They'll never rest, Robert! Not until she's back or you're dead and everyone you know is dead!"

Now Robert was sincerely confused, the irritation gone as he noticed how serious Alexis was. "Who's mate? Alexis, what're you talking about?"

Shaking her head, Alexis left the little cell and locked it back up, then head up the stairs to the main living room. "The Alpha's mate, Robert. I told you before, they have a hierarchy, Robert. They think, they feel, the _love_. And took his away from him!"

Following her, Robert shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense. They have no higher brain function! They're all pure instinct, set on nothing more but eating and surviving."

Angry, Alexis rounded on Robert. "And isn't part of surviving procreating? No, I haven't seen any baby Infected running around, and I don't know if they're even fertile, but that instinct is still there!"

He continued to shake his head, stopping when she stopped to keep from running into her. "Alright, that makes sense, but I don't think that can be considered love. Mating is not the same thing as loving someone and starting a family like we humans do. They are animals, and they have no feelings except hunger and rage."

Groaning in frustration, Alexis shook her head and turned away. "Robert, you don't know how big of a mistake you just made. I had to learn the hard way, and apparently you're going to have to as well."

With that, she stormed up the stairs and into her room, letting a whining Samantha out of Robert's bedroom. The dog scampered down the stairs and to a bewildered Robert.

Samantha whined, then Robert looked down at her and pet her head before turning toward the kitchen. On the menu for breakfast was cereal, and he didn't want to think about the information that Alexis had just fed to him. Pulling out an almanac, Robert sat at the table to eat.

When he was finished with his food, he pushed the bowl out of his way and pulled the book toward him, opening the book to a marked page and running down the list of times for sunset and sunrise. There were black lines across the previous days.

Setting his watch for the times, he took a second look at the book, then sat back in his chair.

"It's my birthday today," he said, looking down at Sam. She looked up at him and tilted her head to the side. "You gonna sing?"

Looking up at the ceiling, he wondered briefly if Alexis had anything planned for him. She usually threw a mini party and he normally came home to some type of present, but he didn't know what she could do this year that would be as exciting.

Going about his daily life, Robert went out to the docks at noon, threw the tennis ball for his dog for a while, fished in the fish hatchery, and then started to head out for his normal scavenging trip for a few hours before he had to head home. The sun had started to set, but it still had quite a while before it reached the critical point of dusk.

In the car, Robert glanced over at his dog, then took a breath. "Hey, if you're planning a party, just tell me now. I promise I'll act surprised and everything, I just hate surprises."

Samantha didn't seem to be listening. She just stared out the window and barked. Robert glanced over, did a double take, and spotted one of his mannequins standing in the middle of a bridge, wearing his red hooded jacket.

Slamming on the breaks, he held out an arm to keep Samantha from falling into the dashboard, then quickly turned the car around and drove the car up the bridge, stopping in front of a fallen street light blocking his path. Samantha barked again, feeling the nervous and frantic vibes from her trainer.

Grabbing his M16, Robert jumped out of the car, leaving his door open, and made his way over to the dummy, standing in the middle of a puddle.

"Fred—Fred what you doing out here? Huh? What're you—Fred! If you're real, you better now me now! If you're real you better tell me right now!" Robert yelled, storming his way over to the fashion mannequin. When Fred surprisingly said nothing, Robert lifted his gun and opened fire on it. The mannequin fell over, broken in half and full of holes.

Scoffing and lowering the gun, Robert threw his hand at the inanimate object. "Dammit, Fred!"

Samantha stood a ways away from Robert, barking at him and whining, and Robert started to look around at all the windows. A moment of paranoia took over and he swung his gun around, ducking as if in cover, and shot out several windows as he made his way over to the broken dummy.

Glancing around, Robert rubbed his head with his hand, then took a step into the puddle in order to reach Fred. He stopped suddenly: as soon as his foot touched down, he heard a snap. Dread fell over the man, and he glanced over his shoulder as he heard the creak of a taxi cab before it crashed down the side of the bridge. A wire trapped Robert's ankle and violently pulled his leg out from under him.

He had just stepped into a trap.

Falling backward, the back of his head slammed against the pavement and he grunted in pain before being hauled up by his ankle to dangle below a street light.

Samantha frantically bounded around underneath Robert, whining and barking: she knew something wasn't right, her master was injured, and she didn't think that any of this was going to end well. She barked and barked, trying to get a reaction from her trainer.

For a few seconds he remained conscious. A trickle of blood from his wound fell into the puddle below him. He swayed slightly from the momentum of being hung up, his eyes fluttered, and he finally slipped from the waking world.

* * *

**I know. It's like a summary of the movie but with Alexis in it. I promise it'll get more fan-fictiony in the newer chapters. I just have to get the muse to write them. . . .**


	6. Chapter 6

**Part Two: SURVIVAL**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

_Beebeebeep. Beebeebeep._

As if knowing something was going on, Robert's wristwatch's alarm sounded and the noise roused him from his unconsciousness. Samantha's barking slowly became louder as he came around, and the watch continued to echo through the air as he groaned in pain.

Samantha continued to bark and growl, trying to gain her master's attention. Robert lifted his head and looked at his watch, then turned the alarm off. He had passed the first alarm already and should have been home now, shutting the blinds and making his house safe.

But he'd fallen into a trap.

"I'm ok, I'm ok," he murmured groggily, shaking his head to try and clear it. It was times like these that he was glad he worked out every day.

Pulling a switchblade from his pant pocket, he used his stomach muscles to sit up in mid air and gripped his ankle, sawing at the wire with his knife. Grunting, he fell back to his dangling position and took some time to breathe, then waved his hand at his frantic dog. "I'm alright! Shh."

Taking a deep breath, he pulled himself up again, holding that breath. He sawed at the wire, then finally cut through it and fell a few feet to the ground, landing hard on the ground. As he landed, he accidentally jammed his knife into his thigh and broke off the blade. He yelled out in pain and held his leg, taking deep, noisy breaths to steady himself.

Samantha bounded to her master and licked his face, glad to see that he was ok for the most part. Robert pushed her away and took a hold of the blade with his hand to pull it out, but decided against it. It hurt, and he didn't want to remove it and start bleeding out while he was in serious need to get home.

Turning on his stomach, Robert pushed himself up to get to his feet, but his legs buckled under him and he fell back down. His legs had lost the feeling in them from the blood rushing down to his head, and he was still fuzzy-brained. He wasn't going to be able to get up and walk for a few minutes. Instead, he proceeded in dragging himself backwards, Samantha walking around behind him and circling him.

Barking began to echo toward the pair from the dark building.

Stopping for a second, Robert looked at the building, but all he could see through the broken wall was darkness, so he continued to drag himself backward. Samantha walked up beside him and lowered her head, ears perked forward toward the barking.

"Let's go, Sam." More barking came from the building and Samantha growled back, then jumped forward and barked at the other dog. "Ah-ah! No, Sam. Let's go!"

In the hole in the wall, the male Infected from before emerged. In both hands he had two Infected dogs by their scruffs, and when he reached the opening, he released the two dogs and a third one appeared, running around the Infected man. About to charge, they were stopped by a small strip of sunlight peering through two buildings.

Again, Robert attempted to stand, but he couldn't manage. He had to drag himself back, and he spotted his M16 behind the dogs, uselessly lying on the floor. He glanced back at his car and remembered the handgun there, and he knew he had to get there.

Samantha barked and growled and snarled at the vicious dogs, stopped only by the band of light. Dusk was their time for coming out, but the Infected humans could not get in any form of sunlight.

Reaching the fallen light post, Robert crawled under it and forced himself to his feet, hobbling toward his door, teeth clenched in fear and concentration.

Finally, he got to the door and grabbed for the gun, but seconds before that the band of light disappeared and the dogs made a run for the potential meal. Snarling, one leapt at Robert, but Samantha intercepted the dog and tackled it to the side, leaving one for Robert to deal with.

He shot at it a few times and killed the thing, nearly missing the third dog. The dog he shot fell over on top of him, jaws still snapping at him, and he heard Samantha wrestling with the other dog, snarling and growling. Robert shoved the dog off of him and took aim at the dog fighting with Samantha, but he couldn't get a shot off.

Suddenly, another dog jumped on top of Robert and knocked the gun from his hand. He held the dog by the throat, trying to keep it's slavering jaws away from his face, and he continued to glance at Samantha, the worry and concern and pure fear evident on his face.

Then the dog gained an upper hand and dug into Samantha's neck, making the German Shepherd yelp in pain.

"No!" Robert shouted.

Turning back to the dog he was grappling with and attempted to free himself, but the Infected mongrel was too strong and was about to win out. Robert reached out toward his gun, but it was just out of his reach.

Just as the dog was about to tear into him, Samantha hurtled out of nowhere and slammed the dog off her master and into the side of the car. Robert rolled over, grabbed his hand gun, then rolled back onto his stomach. He had an easy shot this time, and with two pulls of the trigger, the third dog was down.

Sighing with relief, Robert glanced around for his dog. Samantha whimpered and limped away from the dead, Infected canine, only to lie down on the ground and continue to whine quietly to herself.

"No, no," Robert whispered, crawling to his dog and looking her over. "You're going to be ok. Sam. Sam?" He looked at the gaping bite wound on his blood-covered dog's neck and tears sprang to his eyes. Fighting them back, he moved closer to his dog. "Samantha, Samantha look at me. You're going to be ok."

His voice broke and he said no more, carefully maneuvering his arms under his beloved pet and scooped her up into his arms. "Let's get you home, Sam."

Climbing into his car, his dog remained on his lap as he drove home. The one place Samantha would have a chance. The one place there was anything resembling a cure.

Silence throughout the house. Alexis opened her eyes and a wide yawn made her body shake. Glancing around, she attempted to find the battery-powered clock that was somewhere in her room and spotted it where it always was. On her dresser. The red numbers read three fifty-five.

Stretching her arms above her head, Alexis threw on her large, hooded pul-over sweatshirt and headed to her bed, putting her hood up. Today was Robert's birthday, and she wanted to do something nice.

Getting on her knees, Alexis rummaged underneath the bed she never used anymore and pulled out several books. Cook books. She looked through some of them, pulled out a baking one and one for making alcoholic drinks. She was going to make an old-fashioned party for her friend. Flipping through the baking book, she even found dog treats she could make.

Alexis had always been good at baking, so she knew that a little less than two hours would be fine. Robert had everything they needed, and she had found several things when lurking around in a bakery several weeks ago. She'd been planning this for a while.

She made her way down the stairs, ducking her head and jogging out into the kitchen. Quickly setting her books on the counter, she ducked down and panted, holding the sides of her face as she tried to get over the burning the sun had caused. The half-Infected hated coming down stairs during the day, but it was for Robert.

Once she finally got the metal shutters closed, Alexis spent the next few hours baking a chocolate cake from scratch and beef-flavored dog treats for Samantha. She managed to keep the mess down to a minimal, saving anything she could.

The alcoholic drinks were a little tough. She had to ranack the place for a blender, but she eventually came up with a fine-tasting margarita mix, and when she checked the time, it was six. Odd. Robert should have been home ten minutes ago. . .

_Eh. He's just late. Nothing to worry about. Besides, gave me more time to prepare!_

Happily, Alexis moved all of her creations to the table and arranged them neatly, then she bounded up the stairs, hissing as she passed through a small ray of sunlight, and she went back to her room, rummaging through her closet until she found a large rack of music. She knew Robert loved music, so she had been collecting all the CDs she found over the past few weeks to give to him to look through.

She grabbed an old Christmas bow she had, stuck it to the CD rack—which had a few DVDs as well—and then went back down the stairs and sat at the table to wait for Robert, feeling completely accomplished in life.

However, Robert took his time coming home. Glancing at the windows, it was starting to get pretty dark outside. Worry started to gnaw at Alexis' stomach, and she got to her feet and began to pace, wondering if she should go out and try to find them. . . .

Just as she decided to go search for the man, she heard the car pull up and she smiled to herself. He was home! She stood over in front of her little party stuff and beamed at the door, waiting for Robert to enter.

The door was slammed open and Alexis' cry of "happy birthday" died in her throat when she noted the air of urgency. She took a step forward and nearly collapsed with grief.

In Robert's arms was Samantha.

She didn't look good.

Not at all.

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**T_________T Horribly horribly sad. Last chapter for now. I have two more pre-written, and then half a chapter before I have to start writing it all as I post it. I hope I keep up. . . but no promises.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Part Two: SURVIVAL**

**Chapter Seven.**

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**"Robert, what happened?" Alexis demanded, leaving her table as Robert made his way toward his lab. Tears were springing to her eyes, and she knew exactly what had happened, but asked in order to confirm it.

"Infected dogs," he snapped, throwing open the door to his lab and hurrying down.

Alexis remained at the top of the stairs, looking down in horror at the scene. It was happening all over again. She had foreseen it coming, ever since finding out who that Infected was. Yet she had done about it. Now. . . It was all falling apart again.

Falling to her knees, Alexis leaned against the doorstop, not wanting to go down there. She knew what Robert was going to do. She just had to hope. . . that it would all be ok.

Carefully, Robert set his dog on a metal table after clearing all of the papers off, carelessly tossing them to the ground. He looked his dog over, then picked up a syringe.

The syringe with the cure.

Taking a hold of Samantha's scruff, Robert took a breath, then pricked the needle into her skin. The German Shepherd barely even flinched as she was poked with the needle. Robert injected her with the serum and then tossed the syringe aside.

Waiting a second, Robert scooped his dog up into his arms again and backed up into another table set against the wall. He slowly slid to the ground and held his dog in his lap, eyes glistening with tears waiting to spill over.

Alexis sat at the top of the stairs and looked over as she saw movement in the corner of her eyes. Robert cradled Samantha, and she heard him softly sing to her. Tears flowed freely down her pale, nearly-translucent cheeks. Drawing her knees to her chest, she hugged her legs and buried her face, sobbing softly to herself.

"Rise up this morning. . . Smiling with the rising sun. . . ," he murmured, stroking Samantha reassuringly. Still mumbling to himself, he looked down at his hands to find a clump of a fur in his palm. "Three little birds. . . perched on my doorstep."

Looking away from his palm, he fought back tears and swallowed a sob, then turned his attention to his dog. "Singing sweet songs." Pulling back her eyelids, he noted her fully dilated pupils. Moving his fingers to her jaw, he pulled back her lips and saw her gums rapidly becoming red and inflamed.

Alexis let out a soft wail of despair from up the stairs. It was too late. She could tell already, by whatever link it was she shared with the Infected, that they had lost Samantha.

Samantha started to growl. Tears blurred Robert's vision and he turned his head away as Samantha pushed at the ground with her paws and extended her neck, snapping at Robert's throat. He continued to mouth the words to "Three Little Birds."

Taking his arm, he wrapped it tightly around Samantha's neck and kept her head in place, out of reach of his throat, and he slowly strangled his pet with his bare hands. Samantha scrabbled at the ground with her paws and the snarling slowly stopped and turned to a heart-wrenching choking sound. . .

. . . and she stopped moving at last.

Robert released his grip on his beloved Samantha and she slumped to the ground. Hanging his head, he cried.

Another lament rose from Alexis' throat and she pushed off the ground with her hands and swung her legs around, leaping down the stairs. She landed in a heap on the ground, but she was more durable than most humans, and she crawled over to the other side of Samantha.

"Not again. I couldn't save you again. Oh, my Cassie. . . Oh, my Samantha. No. . . ," she mumbled under her breath, wrapping her arms around the dead dog.

Robert lifted his head slightly to see Alexis lying on the floor, holding his dog, and he choked out a sob, sliding to his own side to embrace his loyal companion. The pair remained that way, crying together over the dog they both loved. Robert's last connection with his family. . . . The creature he had raised from a puppy.

Both of them lost what last shred of hope they had for the world.

Anger bubbled inside the Infected girl. Alexis sniffled loudly, sat up and wiped her tears, and her breathing slowly became more labored, more ragged.

With inhuman speed, Alexis jumped up and ran up the stairs. She ran through the house and burst out of the front door, slamming it behind her, and she ran through the streets, tears running down her cheeks.

_Happy birthday, Dr. Neville,_ she thought bitterly.

She ran and ran through the streets of New York until she heard the sound she was listening for.

Infected screeching.

A snarl of rage ripped from her throat and he ran toward the sound. They were easy to come up on, and they all froze when they spotted her. Everything about her posture—the way she stood with her legs shoulder-width apart, shoulders hunched and arms held away from her body, and the way her shoulders heaved with each angry breath—and her expression told them she was pissed.

"Where is he!" she shrieked.

The message was not lost. Her cry made everyone step back and the Alpha shouldered his way through the crowd, coming to stand alone against Alexis, looking expectant.

Alexis took a step toward him. "You bastard! You killed her! This didn't get you anywhere! We had a truce!"

The infected snorted and a wide smirk crossed his face. "Truce ended when man took _her_ from me," he growled at her. "We no longer fear you, Halfling. You bleed like everyone else. If you bleed, we can kill you."

Alexis' eyes widened and she snarled, making several of the Infected step back, but the braver ones remained, looking ready to fight.

Gritting her teeth, Alexis started to walk backwards. These odds were not good. Looking across the crowd, Alexis squared her shoulders, then snorted. "You'll regret this! I'll kill you for this! You've taken everything from me! _Everything!_ I have nothing more to lose! The next time we meet, Alpha, you'll regret ever crossing me!"

Turning on her heel, Alexis stormed off angrily, only running when she had turned a corner and was out of sight of the Infected. She could hear screeches from another part of town, and that meant another, smaller group. That was her target now. She couldn't face the big group with the Alpha yet, as it would surely cause her severe injury or even death, and Robert needed her now more than ever.

She would get back at that Alpha. Oh, yes. Somehow. If it meant killing off his followers little by little until he was all that was left, she would do it.

Samantha would not die un-avenged.

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**Dun dun dundundun dun. Hope you enjoyed. It might have gotten a little lame right there, but eh. Deal with it. Next three chapters (including this one) should be up in a matter of minutes. The story is finished now, so if I remember I'll post the last chapters up next week, or maybe in two weeks' time. There might be a third installation, there might not be. More information in the last chapter of the story whenever I get around to it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Part Two: SURVIVAL**

**Chapter Eight.**

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**Alexis remained out the entire night and she came home well after dawn, covered in bruises and blood and scratches. She found Robert sitting at the table, staring at the party favors Alexis had made.

"The cake looks good," he murmured. The bags under his eyes indicated that he hadn't slept at all. Tears were dried to his cheeks.

Her heart went out to her companion and Alexis walked over to sit in the chair next to him. She didn't dare speak the words she'd wanted to yesterday. There was nothing happy about his birthday, and she feared it would send him over the edge.

Robert's voice cracked as he spoke again. "I bet Samantha would have liked those treats."

Tears sprang to Alexis' eyes and she got up out of her seat and walked to Robert and sat on his lap. She embraced him and he wrapped her arms around her. For the second time, they cried together.

Alexis hadn't had anyone to cry with in a long time.

However, Robert didn't remain in the house long. He announced to Alexis that he had to get out, and left her to wallow in the darkness of her room alone.

His first stop. . . . To bury Samantha.

He drove her out to the field where he grew his corn. Digging a hole, he buried his dog, managing to hold himself together. He would have done it with Alexis, but she wouldn't have been able to set foot outside the house during the day.

When that was done, he made his way through the city and to the video store. He unlocked it, walked in, then made his way to the adult video section where the "pretty" mannequin was.

He stepped up beside her, looking absolutely miserable, and glanced at her side-ways.

"I promised. . . a friend that I would say hello to you today," he paused to swallow and look at the fake person. "Hello." Looking down, he started to gently rock back and forth on his feet. "Hello. . . . Please say hello to me. Please say hello to me."

The mannequin remained silent.

Turning away, he left the shop feeling more down-hearted and depressed than he originally had. He drove along the street, going anywhere. Every now and again, he would turn his despondent gaze to his empty passenger seat. He glanced at the spot where his dog used to sit several times.

Then he stopped the car in the middle of the street. Leaning forward, he rested his head against the steering wheel and started to cry again.

Once he had himself under control, he looked up and glanced back at the empty seat. A determined look crossed his face. . . and he turned the car around and headed home.

He was going to get revenge for his dog.

Robert spent the rest of the day getting everything ready for his plan. Huge UV lights on top of his car, Hank was pulled from his post at the video store and moved. He spent the rest of the day driving around aimlessly, waiting for darkness to fall.

His daily trip to the docks was forgotten.

It was dark out. Pitch black, the moon just a small sliver. The silhouette of a seated form was seen against the strange glow of the sky and Infected were lurking around. They spotted the form of a human at the end of the docks, sitting at an old desk, and the ran for it, knowing of only one human around.

Robert.

Just as the fastest began to reach the desk, bright, ultra-violet lights burst on, blinding the Infected and causing them severe pain. An engine roared and Robert floored the car, quickly gaining speed as he aimed to mow down the Infected.

"Die!" he screamed, his body jerking around as he slammed into body after body. He slammed his foot down on the breaks and the car skidded to a stop. Throwing it into reverse, Robert turned his car around and drove through the huge pack of Infected again. One leaped on top of his hood and began to beat against the windshield. Cracks began to appear on the window.

Robert slammed his car into a light post and pinned the infected. Throwing his car in reverse, he began to back up. Infected climbed on top of the light post and two more slammed into the car's side. The light post buckled under the weight of the Infected and they slammed into the UV lights, breaking them and shutting them down.

More Infected began to run at Robert's car and he backed the car up again, pulling the UV lights off the top of his car. As he backed up, he got caught on a broken piece of the desk and it went up on three wheels. Two more members of the swarm slammed into the car and sent it toppling over and it fell on its top, right next to the edge of the dock. Water churned below, ready to swallow the car.

There was a mighty roar from the far end of the docks. "Robert!" the person screeched. Alexis had heard the cries and had made her way over, worried when Robert hadn't returned home. She fought her way through the swarm, but there were many of them.

"Alexis?" Robert groaned, bleeding from a wound on his head from when the car flipped.

Infected scrambled around outside the car, but the Alpha shoved them aside and climbed in through the broken window, sniffing at Robert as everything else falls silent except Alexis' frantic screeches and snarls as she attempted to get to Robert.

"Robert! No!" she shrieked, throwing an Infected female into the churning waters. She could see the Alpha by Robert, and she knew then that her bluff had been called.

She did have something else to lose.

Closer the Alpha got to Robert, and he reached toward him to tear him from the car, but blinding lights flicked on and the Infected all scattered. The Alpha crawled out of the car and ran off, and even Alexis had to leave, or else she risked being burned alive herself.

Out of the piercing light came a silhouette. The person ducked down and crawled into the car to get to Robert. He lifted his hands to his face in an attempt to shade his eyes, but the light was too bright. However, he could tell that the person looked female.

"Alexis?" he mumbled. "What—What're you doing in the light?"

The person paused, but then tugged at Robert. After a few tries, Robert fell from his seat and the woman dragged him from his car. A small boy appeared, and together he and the woman helped Robert to their Ford Escape. The bright lights kept the Infected at bay, but there was a small fight going on just outside the lights.

A furious Alexis was on top of an Infected, slamming its head into the pavement until it stopped squirming underneath her. Some of the Infected began to chase after the car—the UV lights had been flicked off for driving—but a few of the injured remained. So, Alexis had decided to hang out and put the wounded out of their misery.

Once the last of the hurt were killed, Alexis stood at the end of the pier, looking out in the direction the woman had driven off with Robert and the child. Thoughts buzzed through her head.

There were more survivors? Where had they come from? Why had Robert gone out there? Had he really thought he could take out the Infected by himself? Had he. . . . Had he been hoping to _kill _himself?

Looking around, Alexis felt disoriented after all of this. Another survivor. Were there more out there? For several minutes she stood there, getting her head around it all. Then, she began to walk and think, feeling that exercise would help her get through it.

Meanwhile, the woman drove as fast as she could, trying to keep ahead of the Infected. She continued to talk to Robert as he faded in and out of consciousness, trying to find out pertinent information.

"Robert? You're safe. Robert, where do you live? Where do you live?" she demanded, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Groggily, Robert lifted his head off the window and slumped in his seat, trying to find his thoughts. "I live. . . at 11. . . Square Garden. Don't let them track us," he added, catching the woman pull out a map. Not Alexis, then. She wouldn't have needed to ask. "Stay out till dawn."

The woman drove and read the map, then found the area Robert lived in. She drove until she passed his house, then went around driving in circles to do as Robert wished.

The little boy was in the back seat, wide-eyed and obviously frightened out of his mind. "It's ok, Ethan. We're safe," she told him before glancing at Robert. He was bleeding badly from a head wound and several scratches on his torso from when the car had flipped.

Making a snap decision, the survivor turned the car around and headed out for Robert's house. There was light on the horizon, so surely the Infected couldn't—or wouldn't—follow her?

His house was easy to find, and she carefully carried him into his home and lied him on the couch. With Ethan's help, the girl patched Robert's leg up and cleaned his head wounds. There was nothing going on outside, so they figured that they were safe. Everything was going to be alright now.

While Robert slept, the woman began to make breakfast, raiding Robert's store and finding powdered eggs and some bacon. Halfway through, she heard someone come in through the front door.

Pulling a gun from her hip, the woman slowly made her way toward the front door, pointing Ethan to hide behind the island.

Alexis stepped into view, looking, well, like she did. She had a large black sweatshirt on with the hood up, and she was breathing weird. Alexis turned at the sound of the woman with the gun, and she backed up, putting her hands up in the defensive position.

"Woah, woah. No need to shoot me. Dr. Neville would not be at all happy if you shot me," she said, sounding breathless.

"Who are you?" the woman asked.

Alexis raised her eyebrows. "I should be asking you that. I live here with Dr. Neville, after all. I'm Alexis, and he's Doctor Robert Neville. But you probably already knew that. Your turn."

Lowering her gun, the woman put it back in her pocket and called to Ethan. He came out of hiding, then went back to sitting at the table.

"My name is Anna and he is Ethan. Why don't you take that hood off so I can see your face?" she asked, sounding suspicious.

Turning her head away, Alexis looked down. "You don't want to see my face. I need to go to bed. Thank you for helping Dr. Neville. I wouldn't have been able to do that very well."

Alexis turned to walk away, but stopped and looked at the woman. "Are you making bacon?"

Anna nodded. "Is that ok?"

Pausing, Alexis nearly lost it. That bacon was for her and her alone. Robert had found it for her, and now this woman was cooking it. "No, it's not." Alexis turned on her heel and walked up the stairs.

She heard Anna call after her, wanting to know more about why she wouldn't lower her hood and why she wouldn't want to see her face, but Alexis ignored her. The boy didn't need to see her. Anna didn't need to see her. They would only be afraid of her. Robert was afraid of her, though he was good at not showing it. She could tell.

Everyone would always be afraid of her until she was cured.

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**Very nearly to the end now! Hope you enjoyed. I think I feel that I might have rushed these last few chapters here. . . but I hope they're still good.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Part Two: SURVIVAL**

**Chapter Nine.**

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**

Robert stepped away from the helicopter, Samantha in his arms, and waved to his wife and daughter as the machine lifted off into the air and the pilot did the final checks for flight.

A sonic boom resonated through the sky and two jets zoomed by overhead. Their missiles were not far behind, and they collided with the bridges. They burned bright orange and people screamed in surprise and fear and many ducked. The helicopter hovered as it waited for the bridges to collapse so no debris would crash into it.

It took only a few seconds for the beams and wires to fall into the water, leaving no room for people to escape. Robert glanced at the bridges, then looked back up at the helicopter taking Zoe and Marley away. Samantha continued to lick at his face, and then the sound of failing machinery caught his attention.

A swarm of Infected were attacking a helicopter one dock over. They grabbed on to it's landing gear and overwhelmed it with weight. The flying machine tried to take off quickly and escape the swarm, but it spun out of control, dropping Infected into the water and leaving others attached to the landing gear, trying to frantically climb into the cockpit.

Robert watched on as the helicopter spiraled out of control and headed straight for the copter hosting his family.

"No!" he shouted seconds before the tail of the other helicopter collided with his family's.

Robert woke up in his living room and glanced around. He was on his couch and it was daylight out. He tried to remember why he was on his couch, then remembered that he'd attempted to kill himself in a kamikaze mission to kill the Infected.

Looking at the TV, he noticed that someone had put Shrek on. It was almost over, and he was distracted when he heard sounds coming from the kitchen. He started to swing his legs over the edge of the couch and winced in pain, reaching out to his leg.

His knife wound was stitched up. He was in the same clothes that he'd been wearing the day Samantha was killed, and there was a hole in his cargo pants from it.

Alexis definitely hadn't done that.

Standing up off the couch, he limped over to a desk and silently pulled a pistol from a drawer. Cautiously, he made his way toward the kitchen to see who was rummaging around.

For a split second, he saw his wife with a skillet of eggs and his daughter coloring in a coloring book at the table. He shook his head and blinked, and when he looked again, the vision was replaced by an woman unknown to him and small boy setting the table.

Both stopped what they were doing and stared warily at Robert. He examined them, then stepped forward and set the pistol down on the counter, then showed the two of them him hands to indicate that he was no longer armed.

Relaxing, Ethan sat down in his seat and Anna made her way around the island. "I made some eggs. I'm afraid they're powdered. . . but you already knew that," she chuckled. "They're yours."

Robert just stared at her, dumbfounded.

"And I found some bacon. Which is just about the most wonderful thing in the world. I set out some meds for you. . . because your leg is ok but it won't be for long if you don't start a course soon," Anna continued, scraping some scrambled eggs onto the plate she made for Robert.

It was on the wrong side of the table.

"My name is Anna. . . and that is Ethan. Sit."

Slowly, Robert sat down at the table where Anna had motioned. She was in his seat. Robert didn't like that.

He was at a complete loss for words, as he'd been practically alone for three years. Samantha hadn't ever talked back, the mannequins were never good for conversation, and Alexis and him only saw each other as they passed one another in the halls.

Alexis and him had had short conversations, and he was always grateful for her company, but there were days where she would go out early or stay in late and he hadn't been able to talk to her.

He wasn't much good at conversations anymore.

Sitting, he began to eat. "What're you doing here?" He'd found his words.

"We were up in Maryland. We heard your radio broadcast. We were at the docks at noon, all day. We're making our way to Vermont where there's a survivor's colony," Anna replied between bites of egg.

Robert looked up at her and shifted in his seat, agitated. "Survivors' colony? There's no survivor's colony."

Anna smiled and leaned forward. "Yes. Up north. There's a whole colony of people living up there."

"No, no one survived. Nothing happened the way it was supposed to."

"Up north! The virus couldn't survive the cold—"

"No!" Robert shouted, grabbing his plate and violently tossing it behind him. It smashed into the wall behind him and the two jumped away from the table, and Anna pulled her gun.

"Everyone's dead. Everyone," Robert insisted.

The three stared at each other and Robert shook his head, stumbling for words. "I'm sorry. I—I just don't—see," he stammered, trying to find a right way to apologize. He hit his fist against the table twice. "God, just—I was saving that bacon. I was saving it!"

It was a sad excuse and he could see it in Anna and Ethan's eyes.

Starting to get up from his seat, he lifted his hands into a defensive position and pointed toward the stairs. "I'm just going to go upstairs. Okay? Just going upstairs," he said, getting up and heading toward the stairs.

Ethan and Anna watched him go, and Anna indicated toward the table. "Ethan, put the knife down." The boy walked over to the table and set down the butter knife he'd pick up when Robert had his outburst.

Halfway up the stairs, Robert met with Alexis. She looked concerned and stopped in front of him. "Robert? What was that crash?"

"My plate. I need to be alone," he said brusquely, pushing past Alexis.

She turned to face him. "We've been alone for ages. I'm not much for company. You should go down there and socialize."

Robert ignored her and headed into the bathroom, sitting on his normal seat with his feet in the tub, looking at the empty space where Samantha used to be. He looked over as Alexis came to stand in the doorway.

"What are you going to tell them when they ask about me?" she asked.

Robert shook his head. "The truth? I shouldn't keep you a secret."

Nodding, Alexis leaned against the doorstop. "I agree. They asked me when I got home, but I did not want to be alone when they saw me without my hood on. I didn't want. . . to be alone when they got scared of me. . . ."

"Alexis. . . ," Robert cooed, climbing out of the bath tub to walk over and embrace the girl. "I promise we'll get you fixed. I'm not going to go back on that."

Nodding, Alexis pulled away. "I know. But take your time. As long I'm like this. . . I can help with the Infected."

"The longer you're like this, the more likely that you'll become one of them. I don't know which way the virus is going to go in you. Your immune system is strange, and I don't know if you're going to get better or worse."

Alexis lowered her head. "If I get worse?"

Robert looked at her and sighed, wrapping an arm around her back to pull her close. "I won't kill you unless I have to. If you start getting worse, I'll sedate you and keep you down like the one in my lab."

Closing her eyes, Alexis let Robert hold her for a second, then she pulled away again. "I'm getting a headache. Can you introduce me now so I can get to sleep?"

Robert nodded and put her hood over her head before leading her down the stairs. He could see that her face was getting rosy from the indirect sunlight, and he kept her at the top of the stairs. "I'll call you when it's time."

Alexis lied against the wall and curled into a ball, trying to keep the sunlight off her, and Robert made his way down the stairs.

Ethan was watching Shrek, and it looked as if he had restarted it a while ago.

Suddenly, Robert started to recite the lines from the movie. Ethan looked back at him, and Anna came to stand in the doorway. He recited the scene, stopped as he realized it was getting awkward, then looked away from the two of them.

"I like Shrek."

Why was it so much harder for him to interact with these people than it was for him to interact with Alexis?

Anna gave Robert a glare, then walked into the kitchen. Robert followed her, and both took seats at the table. "You're not so good with people anymore, are you?"

"Thank you for my leg," Robert said, sounding like he had rehearsed the line a few times.

"Okay," Anna replied.

"Where have you been?"

"I was on a Red Cross ship from Sao Palo when the virus jumped."

Robert shook his head. "Those ships weren't meant to be permanent."

"No, they weren't." Anna paused a second, then went on to tell Robert how she and the others had made their way up to Maryland. They were all immune, but had all been taken down by the Infected, which she referred to as the "Dark Seekers."

Anna fidgeted with a piece of paper. "And now we're on our way to Vermont. You're the Robert Neville, aren't you? What are you still doing here?"

"I can still fix this."

Anna looked at him, then nodded slowly. "What happened to your leg?"

"I got caught in a trap. I'll show you, but first you need to meet Alexis."

Anna leaned back in her chair. "I already met her."

Robert got to his feet and walked over to the entrance to the living room, where he went to each window and closed the shutters. "No, you know her name. You haven't _met_ her. Alexis?"

Ethan walked over to Anna and they stood in front of the couch as Alexis made her way down the stairs. Robert stood between everyone, but had his sides turned to each of them. "Now. . . . You have no reason to be afraid of her. She's just like the three of us."

"Don't lie to them, Robert," Alexis sighed, taking her hands under her hood and pulling it back. Anna stepped protectively in front of Ethan, who clung to her leg. "I am far from the same thing as the three of you."

She looked like quite a sight; pale, nearly-translucent skin, short, scraggly brown hair, and sunken eyes. Alexis was panting like a dog and looked exactly like an Infected, the only difference being that she had hair. Anna and Ethan looked on in fear at the strange girl, and it was soon that Alexis could no longer handle their stares and she pulled her cowl back over her head.

"Robert! She's infected! What is she doing here?" Anna demanded, pushing Ethan behind herself.

Alexis hung her head and hunched her shoulders, clasping her hands in front of her and wringing her hands. Robert stepped up next to her and held her around the shoulders.

"She's infected, yes. But as you can see she is very human. She's immune, but only in the sense of canines where she can't be infected by the airborne strain. However, her immune system is still fighting off the virus. It's kept her from being completely converted," he explained, holding Alexis tightly.

The girl looked up at him, then turned to walk up the stairs. "I'm going to sleep now," she murmured.

Robert watched her go, then turned back to Anna. "She's a good girl. She wouldn't hurt a fly. Unless it was an infected fly," he said with a light chuckle. When Anna just stared at him dumbfounded, Robert set her down and explained everything to her. He told her all about Alexis and how he found her, and even bits of her own story. Slowly, Anna began to understand a little better.

"You were going to show me that trap?"

It took only ten minutes to drive to the site, and Robert took Anna and Ethan to the underpass, where the taxi that had been attached to the twitch had fallen. He showed them the wire and told them everything that had happened. Anna suggested that they had planned it, but for some reason, Robert refused to believe it.

With nothing left to do and daytime to spare, he brought them to the place where he fished. Ethan had fun swimming in the little pool, darting after the fish that avoided him so feverishly. Anna and Robert talked, Robert telling her about the Infected he had captured, and then turned to Ethan.

"Watch this," he called, grabbing a handful of seed and tossing it over to Ethan. The result was instantaneous as the fish realized it was lunch time. They surrounded Ethan, writhing under the water and engendering several loud giggles to escape the boy.

Arms above the water as the fish roiled around him, he gave a shiver and looked up to Anna. "It's cold."

Robert's brow furrowed and realization swept across his features. "Ice," he muttered, standing to his feet.

"What?" Anna asked.

"I need ice!"

* * *

**That's it for now. I realize that I might have skipped some lines and some scenes in the movie in these last few chapters. Like I said, I was kinda rushing through it. . . . But I also skipped some of them because I deemed them unnecessary! Hope you joined it!**


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